They might be bad at shooting, but at least Stormtroopers shot themselves to fame in pop culture at the very least. They're so iconic that anyone who has had access to televisions or digital screens will likely recognize them. They're the faceless Star Wars action figures that everyone likes to have as Funko Pop figures, etc.
And despite there being numerous versions of Stormtroopers, all of them have one design philosophy. They all have that bald, bearded skull helmet and smooth armor. As per Star Wars lore, their uniform design is just a ripoff of the glorious Mandalorian armor, but it seems the student became the teacher in this case. Fans will definitely see more of these Stormtrooper variants around compared to most other Star Wars uniforms.
10 Captain Phasma
For many of the sequel trilogy fans, Captain Phasma was criminally underrated and under-utilized as a villain. She was even benched too much as a Stormtrooper commander. Still, the criticisms regarding Phasma's wasted potential were proof enough that she was iconic.
It's that armor first and foremost. She's the shiniest Stormtrooper to ever exist. In fact, Captain Phasma was so shiny, she served as one of the best demonstrations for Nvidia's Raytracing graphical technology. Of course, actress Gwendoline Christie's portrayal also gives Phasma more of a relatable human touch.
Here's hoping that she'd be the next "Boba Fett" of her Star Wars generation, whose cult following was enough to grant him a redemptive spotlight in the near future — perhaps at least a series.
9 Stormtrooper
Nothing beats the original, and when it comes to identifying Stormtroopers, the regular ground grunt remains the most recognizable. Their armor design has changed throughout the decades and has gotten a bit bulkier and more armed in more recent films.
Still, their name remains undeniable. These guys are Stormtroopers, just Stormtroopers. There's nothing special about them, they even die too quickly to blaster fire from an untrained farm boy from Tatooine. But these faceless minions are their own personality in Star Wars mythos as the iconic, expendable clone troops whom the good guys can't feel guilty about killing.
8 Snowtroopers
The original trilogy knocked it out of the park with the second film, The Empire Strikes Back, in many ways. One of those ways was the introduction of the Snowtroopers. They're essentially just Stormtroopers whose uniforms and armor were re-tooled for warfare on ice planets like Hoth.
The style shed new light on Stormtrooper competence, especially after Luke and Han made a joke out of them in the first film. Turns out Stormtroopers can be more menacing and coordinated, especially in entering unfamiliar warzones. They certainly knew how to dress for the job. Their appearance was made even more ghostly and menacing due to the scarcity of the dark shade in their armor. Snowtroopers would also make an appearance in the sequel trilogy.
7 Jumptroopers
.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=1500&dpr=1.5)
In one head-scratcher of a scene in The Rise of Skywalker, somehow, the Stormtroopers can now fly. And this became a subject of bewilderment from C3PO and Finn — two war veterans who have seen too much Empire and Stormtrooper tech to be surprised at jetpacks.
But in any case, they do fly now, and they decided to unleash that useful tool too late in the third film. Both the Rise of Skywalker scene and the idea of Stormtroopers with jetpacks being news to the good guys had become a meme in the fanbase, technically making the Jumptroopers iconic.
6 Death Troopers
To wash off the taste of incompetence from the Jumptroopers, here's the elite of the Empire, the Death Troopers, as was shown in Rogue One. They're a branch of the Stormtrooper army that deals in espionage, stealth, and surgical strikes. Assassinations are part of their specialties, hence the name.
The tar-black armor helps to reinforce this reputation, these guys are not bumbling around with white armor. In fact, one could look closely at the facade and they'd see a resemblance to Darth Vader, only with no force sensitivity or capes.
5 Dark Trooper
The Death Troopers might be the Galatic Empire's elite, but they still have one glaring weakness: they're organic beings. They're still prone to "human" error and die faster than droids. So, the remnants of the Empire in The Mandalorian cooked up something more intimidating than Darth Vader Jr. commandos, the Dark Troopers
It's a shame they were used so late in the war effort because these things are way too powerful to be killed by non-Jedi combatants. It took a Jedi Master with heavy plot armor to dispatch a squad of Dark Troopers, and even one of the best Mandalorians could barely win against one.
4 Sith Troopers
.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=1500&dpr=1.5)
There were white Stormtroopers, there were black Stormtroopers. And since the Empire seems to be practicing some ironic inclusivity, they also included some red Stormtroopers, specifically the Sith Troopers from The Rise of Skywalker. However, this battalion wasn't drawn from the regular recruitment pool.
The Sith Troopers were special soldiers whose ranks were primarily comprised of members of the Sith cult. Most of them were thus groomed from childhood to worship and serve the Sith. They're not force-sensitive, thankfully, but they're far more loyal than the regular Stormtroopers and were also deadlier.
3 Emperor's Royal Guards
Before Emperor Palpatine's rule was overthrown by the Jedi and Rebel scum, he had a far more fearsome retinue of bodyguards called the Imperial Royal Guards. They are the elite of the elite when it comes to Stormtrooper ranks and they typically stay by the Emperor's side, as seen in the original trilogy.
The Emperor was so confident and skillful in his Force powers that he didn't even need a Royal Guard. And while they're the best among the Stormtroopers when it comes to everything, they're mostly just the Emperor's decoration to inspire fear and impress his subjects and enemies.
2 Imperial Shock Troopers
Imperial Shock Troopers have a long history, dating back to the days of the Galactic Republic, from before Palpatine took power. They were a more advanced and loyal rank of Galactic Clone Troopers and they had the chevrons and colors to indicate their hierarchy.
The Empire likely thought it a waste to disband this battalion due to the troop's experience, so they just rebranded the Shock Troopers to their own. Their armor and equipment were designed for swift and merciless attacks against high-value targets, which was why they were the ones who primarily stormed the Jedi Temple on Coruscant during Order 66.
1 Republic/Imperial Commandos
Like Imperial Shock Troopers, the Imperial Commandos have also come a long way dating back to the Galactic Republic. They were the batch of clones trained in Mandalorian combat styles, thus making them the elite in the Clone Army. Shortly after Palpatine took over, the Republic Commandos were integrated into the Galactic Empire's Imperial Army.
They're the ones responsible for training non-clone Stormtroopers. Due to their intelligence and wiser judgment, some of them quickly became disillusioned with the Empire and defected to the Rebels, making them a cut above the rest and definitely more iconic as they've had video games made in their name.